Friday, August 31, 2012

Hawkins:To quote a famous Labour politician, 'I've been thinking' about this constituent of yours in Mt Albert that you have used to illustrate fairness and responsibility to society, this sickness beneficiary who's up painting his roof, and I have to ask on behalf of Giovanni Tiso, who has been campaigning now bilingually to get a straight answer from you for ten days now. Did that actually happen? Is that a true anecdote from your time... [Shearer interrupts]

Shearer:Yeah, yeah, I was going around the streets before the last election, knocked on a guy's door, he walked out on the lawn with me and pointed over and said this guy supposedly - I think he said he had a bad back or a bad something or other - and the point was, I mean, wasn't actually... whether this guy was right or not I don't know, but the point is, what I was trying to make is the point about fairness and the way New Zealanders feel about fairness. They don't want... this guy in particular said look I'm working hard, I pay my taxes, I'm doing all the right things and this guy - in his opinion, and that's what I said in my thing - is ripping the system off. Now I don't care if you're a millionaire not paying his taxes or somebody on the benefit who shouldn't be getting one. The way that New Zealanders see that is that it's not fair when somebody is not doing the right thing. That's the point of what I was saying.

Hawkins:So you don't know if it's true, at no point did you go talk to the beneficiary in question?

Shearer:No, the point was Aaron - the point was how people perceive others not playing by the rules, that's all I was saying. So I mean that's a story - the account of this guy, if what he was telling me is true, but I didn't do a police investigation on somebody, but the point was how do people perceive others, and I think overwhelmingly in New Zealand we don't like people who are not playing by the rules, in a sense not adhering to what I call the social contract.

Hawkins:I don't think it's the equivalent of a police enquiry to simply fact-check an anecdote that you are going to turn into a political platform.

Shearer:It's not a political platform, the whole point of it as I keep saying to you is illustrating how people feel about others. That was all it was saying. It was somebody relating something to me and I was relating that on. It is about how people feel about others not playing by the rules. And we have a very highly developed sense for that in New Zealand, for good or for bad, and I actually think it's good. But what does happen is that if people have that perception it means that everybody who legitimately receives a benefit - and overwhelmingly New Zealanders support that as well - they actually get tarred with the same brush. It's really important that we make sure that the system works well and that people have confidence in it.

Hawkins:Isn't that what Paula Bennett was doing, using a couple of examples of people not playing by the rules and not playing fairly within the welfare system to show up its flaws?

Shearer:Well what she did was she went into the Ministry, pulled out people's private information and using her privileged position as a Minister and then put them into the news media because they happened to disagree with it. I think it's a quantifiably mega-jump more than what I was talking about.

...how much cringing can you do in one reading? The Labour Party BBQs must now be warming, no political leader can be as inarticulate as this. He is almost speaking in tongues while desperately backpedaling.

Well done Aaron Hawkins of Radio One for putting these questions to Shearer, it's a great reminder how important our Student Radio network is.

The ridiculous Pagani dog whistle inserted into Shearer's Grey Power speech that had Shearer bitching about some mythical sickness beneficiary painting the roof has imploded with the kind of rupturing of physics normally left for the large hadron collider.

The Pagani Doctrine is to chase National voters and move Labour to the right. In direct contrast to the 'growing the pie' mantra Shearer would espouse pre leadership, the Pagani Doctrine ignores the 800 000 enrolled voters who didn't bother to vote to chase the much smaller National Party voter pie.

It all runs bitter to rank and file Labour Party members who are demanding a serious articulation of left wing solutions to a right wing juggernaut they see dismantling all that is holy.

Shearer isn't doing that. He is starting fights with the left of the Party by attacking those the Party see as the results of failed social policy, not the cause of it. He's dog whistling while his strategy duo of the Pagani's are having public fights with the country's largest left wing blog.

It's a buggers muddle of unprecedented political clumsiness topped off by Shearer's inability to communicate in basic english. Look at this for Christ's sake...

Shearer:Yeah, yeah, I was going around the streets before the last election, knocked on a guy's door, he walked out on the lawn with me and pointed over and said this guy supposedly - I think he said he had a bad back or a bad something or other - and the point was, I mean, wasn't actually... whether this guy was right or not I don't know, but the point is, what I was trying to make is the point about fairness and the way New Zealanders feel about fairness. They don't want... this guy in particular said look I'm working hard, I pay my taxes, I'm doing all the right things and this guy - in his opinion, and that's what I said in my thing - is ripping the system off. Now I don't care if you're a millionaire not paying his taxes or somebody on the benefit who shouldn't be getting one. The way that New Zealanders see that is that it's not fair when somebody is not doing the right thing. That's the point of what I was saying.

...this is 'office-esk' gibberish. No self respecting Labour Party supporter can feel secure in their leader when their leader is channeling David Brent.

Shearer can't manage 10 minutes on student radio without self harming himself. You can't have a political leader under 24 hour suicide watch, it isn't good for the Poll numbers, which are stalling.

The landline polls favour National supporters, if the Pagani Doctrine was working and Labour's step to the right was attracting National voters, they would be seeing Labour's polling rise. They are not. Here are yesterday's Roy Morgan polling.

The question marks keep getting larger over Shearer as a leader, they are not diminishing. Shearer's viability as leader until the election will be tested this November at conference. If an amendment to decrease the Caucus trigger point for a leadership challenge from 67% to 51% is passed, Shearer's future will be decided over the 2012-13 BBQ season.

6 Comments:

I agree entirely with your comments about Pagani. The Labour Party has now had 4 years of paganiisms and like the free marketeers advocating pure capitalism it seems that we keep being told that we just need to persevere and keep with it and it will happen eventually.

For me as a self acknowledged leftie this has two problems, Paganiisms embarrass me, and Paganiisms turn off the base. Being a paler shade of blue does not do it.

I would like Shearer to actually have a shot at leadership, a chance to be himself and talk from the heart. Then who knows what will happen.

But if Labour has to endure more Paganiisms then I shudder to think where we will end up.

PS these are my own thoughts and are totally devoid of any concerns about internal party politics.

Ah yes ... " I've been thinking . ' That was a little plastic tomb of poison was it not ? Tricky Dickie Prebble . Another gibbering blatherer . A lying stutterer . A Neo Con in a pair of invisible overalls . Where are you now Dickie ? Loafing somewhere on your parliamentary retirement' entitlements 'after you aided and abetted in the destruction of your own country for a dollar ?

David Shearer is exactly what he's supposed to be in my paranoid view . A saboteur perhaps ? If someone as dumb as me can see through jonky and his mutant Maggie Thatcher clones how come Shearer can not . Because no one with even an iota of conscience , passion and conviction could be in the same building with the Creatures from the Blue Lagoon without punching at least one of them out daily . So , it begs the question ; what's Shearers ulterior motivations ?

When I look out into our political jungle I see no one at all in there that's capable enough, strong enough and bright enough to lead us back out onto the main road . Shearer's as Blue as a Baboons arse and Cunliffe doesn't have the biceps for it .

Labour urgently needs a fighter who loves to get stuck in just for the fun of it . Labour needs a person who can galvanize those 800,000 lazy fuckers into voting action because the great thing is , at least they didn't vote for National [ Front ] . So one might assume they're a sleeping , Labour Party resource ?

Labour needs David Lange as prime minister and Rod Donald as a coalition partner ... But wait ? They're both dead aren't they .

I think a party with a leader like George Galloway would be a great start. A principled working class party would be great as well. I think if you watch this clip(16mins in) by George you’d kinda see what I mean, principled & leadership & values. Isn’t that what the Labour party use to be instead of what it’s morphed into? A bunch of white lily-livered middle class tossers! And f%#k those Pagini's right off! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eB49BabRxk

- I think maybe a wee bit over the top. They're actually all too comfortable with the treats and trinkets, and egos that constantly reassure themselves that they've' paid their dues' to be involved in anything too 'active'. At least 'active' enough as to be involved in something revolutionary.They're all at it. Even Mallard - supposedly currently courting media opportunities disguised as a well-spoken upholstered couch (or at least chez longe).It really is a bit pathetic.As for the Paganis.... in that mould of consultant entitlement ,,,, you know the "TYPE" - and it is a "TYPE". Ready to advise and report using templates a la - here's something I prepared earlier.I suppose they have to earn a crust - just like the rest of us, but none of them should be surprised by the massive electorate turn-off. And IF Labour do think a Pagani or two is the answer to life and the universe, then they obviously missed fascist Italy, and the shit that's currently going on in AUstralian Labor. There, they actually think Gillard is left wing ffs!

I support David Shearer at this junction. He really said bugger all - the whole thing has been taken out of context. David Cunliffe could have been the leader if he had really supported Phil Goff in last year's election campaign mmany labour members appeared as though they didn't want goff to win. The irony is that Phil Goff went close to becoming prime minister.

Now if those rash members of the Labour Party take the knife to David Cunliffes leadership and ignore public opinion - there won't be a Labour Party anymore. There will be a move to create a new party without those people - a new Social Democratic movement which would probably include Mana and the Greens

@ Tim . HAhaha ! Maybe , but it's a great view from over the top ! It's a better view than from under the bottom I can tell you . Have you read ' The Paradise Conspiracy ' by Ian Wishart by the way ? It would be bizarre enough if it were simply fiction . It's outrageous because it's fact . The BNZ/ Fay/Richwhite / Citi Bank / Cook Islands / Members of Parliament connections/SIS / Burglaries etc etc .

And yet some of us still cling to the fantasy that our two main political parties have differing ideologies ?

Most of us don't really believe we have a Left and a Right any more I'm sure of that , so my question is ; What then do we have ?

If we no longer have a Capitalist Right balanced by a Socialist Left , what do we have ?

A Corporate Structure ?

A corporate structure we didn't vote in and can't vote out and who have well paid minions who would sell their sons and daughters for a dollar on demand ?

A corporate Structure that gouges us by hiking up the prices of our stuff then turning around and selling our off to foreign investors because they can afford to buy into our stuff that we made profitable because we had no choice other than to be gouged and then they sell it off to richer foreigners as I've said before and stuff ?

And apparently NZ has 250 k plus hungry kids who no doubt live in cold houses ?

And what about B grade food at A+ Grade prices and food we produce in abundance at that ?

And we're debating who's better , shearer or jonky ?

Are we all living in Wa Wa Land ?

I think we are ?

C'mon you fucking politicians ! What's really going on ? You can tell us . We're all grown up now you know . We can take it . We've taken this shit for long enough so we can take anything .